I’ve always loved science fiction.

As a kid, I was raised on reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Dr. Who (Tom Baker as doctor).

Science fiction allows us to escape to other worlds, to fantasize about the unknown in our universe, and tells heroic stories from courageous leaders as they battle against the odds.

Well, Star Trek: TNG is long since over (though I can’t resist a smoldering Riker), and I’ve stopped watching Dr. Who (after my man David Tenant was done with the show, so was I. No judgment!), so since then there has been something of a void.

With Netflix, I stay pretty on top of things. Once something comes out, I check it out to see if it might be for me. When I came across Another Life, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Blurb:

Set in the future, an anomaly from space appears in Earth’s orbit and plants a stalk-like object into the ground. Humans attempt to determine what it is, why it’s in been placed there, and what’s going to happen next, but it’s taking too long to crack the code so they send a team into space to the source of the object to investigate further.

So needless to say, I charged right in and gave the show a chance.

After finishing the first season just four days later (pretty fast for me), I have to say that I absolutely LOVE this series!

For starters, the world we are in during this series is in the future, but not too far where things are confusing for the viewer. Things are interestingly different. The human race can travel at the speed of light in their spaceships, and their communication is top notch and can easily span galaxies. From what we see of the more public areas like bars and towns, not much has changed at all.

The plot is also very captivating from the get go. Captain Niko and her crew have been catapulted into space after a strange object arrives on Earth from a far away planet. They’ve tracked the origin of this object, and are determined to come into contact with the alien species themselves to figure out what they want.

If that’s not a good reason to go to space, I don’t know what is. It was totally understandable in my view, and you know it’s not gonna be smooth sailing from the get go.

I mean, they haven’t ever really gone to this quadrant of space, and there are a TON of unknowns, mainly the intention of this strange alien race.

Next, the characters. Oh my GOSH the characters. I really think the characters are what truly made this show work. Primarily, Niko.

Niko is basically the Jillian Michaels of space captains. She’s big on tough love, and believes that the mission must come first. While she may sound like a hardass, she actually does care about her team, and their bond will strengthen over time.

Close seconds go to the characters of Cas and William.

Cas is the ship’s second-in-command. For me, I love her character just because of how strong she is, and she actually looks up to (and listens to) Niko when the going gets tough and others don’t want to hear the harsh truth. She’s very well-balanced, brave, and most of all, a badass when it comes down to it.

William is the ship’s AI and is capable of human emotion. We get to see the consequences of what happens when an AI system is allowed to develop emotions and how they may affect others and the mission at hand. Definitely an interesting subplot.

Through these characters and others, we learn more about this alternate Earth and some of the culture around it. Definitely very interesting.

I am hooked to this series. I actually don’t have anything negative to say about this show at all. I was so captivated that I’m just grateful I was able to experience such a great first season, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in the lives of the crew aboard the Salvare.

What about you?

That’s it for this recommendation post. How about you? Have you seen Another Life on Netflix? Want to gush about it? Do you have any other great recommendations for similar shows, movies, or books? Feel free to share in the comments!

Happy Watching everyone!